Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen will put their perfect records on the line Friday afternoon when the two sides meet at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund. BVB are the favorites, but Robin Dutt will be pushing his men to pull of the upset.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Werder Bremen: Preview and TV schedule
Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen kick off Week 3 in the Bundesliga.
Stuart Franklin
A random scheduling quirk has seen BVB and Werder play the same two teams, Augsburg and Eintracht Braunschweig, to start the season. Both managed to take all six points, but this was completed in slightly different fashion. While BVB looked better than good in both matches, Werder did post two 1-0 victories, but both matches were a struggle for die Werderaner. Augsburg outshot them 20 to 5. Seriously, it was that much of a difference. What makes you think BVB will not do the same?
Even though die Borussen will be without Ilkay Gündogan again, they’ll be able to just drop former Bundesliga player of the season Nuri Sahin into his starting position. Sahin will control the middle of the park with Sven Bender and snuff out any and all Werder chances. The big question is if Jürgen Klopp will give Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Jakub Blaszczykowski a spot on the bench for this match. Both could use a break after a busy start to the season.
Werder are expected to spend a majority of their season fighting relegation and/or hovering just north of the relegation zone. Yes, they did pick up two wins to start the season, but both of those were against fellow relegation favorites. Those were huge wins for the club, but they aren’t the end-all be-all.
Werder will need huge games this week out of Aaron Hunt and Cedric Makiadi in the middle of the park in order to have a good look at winning the match. They have a shot, but it’s a long one.
Projected Lineups
Borussia Dortmund: Roman Weidenfeller; Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer; Nuri Sahin, Sven Bender; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Reus; Robert Lewandowski
Werder Bremen: Sebastian Mielitz; Clemens Fritz, Sebastian Prödl, Assani Lukimya, Theodor Selassie; Cedric Makiadi, Aaron Hunt; Zlatko Junuzovic, Felix Kroos, Mehmet Ekici; Nils Petersen
Injuries and Suspensions
Borussia Dortmund: Ilkay Gündogan (out - back), Lukasz Piszczek (out - hip)
Werder Bremen: Clemens Fritz (out - thigh), Luca Caldirola (doubtful- ankle)
Television and Streaming
TV: Gol TV (USA), BT Sport (England), Sky 1 (Germany)
Streaming: Sky Go (Germany)
Time and Location
Time: 20:30 Local / 2:30 PM Eastern
Location: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund
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